Reddit bans links to The Atlantic, Businessweek due to spam

Reddit has banned several domains, including some from Atlantic Media, from being submitted to the popular social news site. Such bans, Reddit general manager Erik Martin wrote on a discussion of the action, "are temporary," but they are a source of concern for publishers trying to benefit from the massive page views that can ensue when a link takes off there.

I can't find anything on Reddit saying exactly how the publishers allegedly gamed the site (though please note my understanding of Reddit comes almost exclusively from being thrilled when I notice one of Poynter's posts is getting traffic from there). An April story on The Daily Dot said The Atlantic's Jared Keller had been booted from Reddit, which informally bans submitting "a link to a site that you own or otherwise benefit from in some way," for allegedly spamming the site with thousands of links from Atlantic properties. Keller told The Daily Dot's Kevin Morris that he "tried to adhere to those standards."

New York Observer's Jessica Roy writes that several Reddit users are upset that no Conde Nast sites — that company, like Reddit, is owned by Advance Publications — have been banned for the same behavior. In a discussion of that point on the site, Reddit's Neil Williams says they could be banned, too. "Hopefully they know better," Williams writes.

Related: "Loving the Alien: How Erik Martin, King Bee of Reddit’s Hive Mind, Harnessed the Buzz" (New York Observer)

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City Paper. He's the author of the 2006 book "Body Piercing Saved My Life," about Christian rock and evangelical Christian culture.